The present invention relates to a yoke housing that is suitable for recycling and a motor that uses the yoke housing.
Recycling of automobile parts is becoming popular these days. Discarded automobiles are cut by a shredder into shredder dust of a predetermined size (for example, 10 cm square) and iron is mainly reused from the shredder dust.
A typical automobile is equipped with many motors. Each motor includes an armature, which has a copper wire (coil). When the armatures are cut by a shredder, copper component is mixed into the shredder dust. As a result, the purity of iron is decreased and the iron could not be reused.
Therefore, in a practical sense, an operator needs to visually check a large amount of shredder dust. When the shredder dust that includes the armature having the copper wire is found, the shredder dust is separated to remove the armature in a different process. After removing the armature, the shredder dust is returned to a recycling process.
When a compression force is applied to a yoke housing of the motor during the recycling process, the yoke housing is broken. If the armature inside the broken yoke housing is visible, the armature is easily removed. However, some of the yoke housings are not broken by the shredder and are simply crushed in such a manner the opening of the yoke housing is closed. In this case, the operator cannot determine whether the armature is accommodated in the yoke housing from the exterior appearance. Thus, the armatures are not easily removed. As a result, the shredder dust including the copper component is passed onto the recycling procedure, which reduces the purity of the iron.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a yoke housing that breaks down into several pieces when a compression force is applied from the outside during recycling, and a motor that uses the yoke housing.
To achieve the above objective, the present invention provides a yoke housing, which accommodates an armature having a coil and at least has a tubular circumferential wall. The yoke housing includes a plurality of pieces and a fracture portion. The pieces form the yoke housing. The fracture portion is located along a boundary between the pieces. The fracture portion fractures when a compression force is applied from the outside to break the yoke housing into the pieces.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.